Our research staff continues to find that embezzlement is an issue that is still prevalent in practices nationwide. Consequently, we are revisiting this subject to provide additional advice.

Minimize the Risk

More than likely, you’ve heard the horror story about a colleague whose trusted employee embezzled money from his/her practice. To preclude this from happening to you, there are steps that you could take to minimize the risk of embezzlement.

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We recommend that the following procedures become a part of your normal routine, as they will help to safeguard you from embezzlement.

Handling Cash

Make it your firm policy that you provide every patient/client with a receipt for cash payments.

Cash handling and cash record keeping duties need to be segregated. Have one person collect patient/client portions over the counter and another person post balances. Have a third person make the bank deposits. As the owner, you must play an active role in monitoring sales and cash if you have too few employees to fully separate those three duties.

Each month, compare the amount of cash deposited in the bank to the receipts and/or balances posted in your collections log. There could be some minor fluctuation, of course, but a significant difference for that month is a warning sign and should be investigated.

Start a simple patient/client sign-in sheet listing patient names and the date signed in. Compare this on a daily basis to an over-the-counter-collections report (and day sheet or equivalent). Look for inconsistencies, such as patients/clients who are on the sign-in sheet but not listed on the day-sheet report. Spot-check by phone call to patients/clients who are reported to not have paid an amount due that day. This can be done as a “quality control” call to the patient/clients. Of the questions asked, one might be something like, “It’s our policy that all patients/clients who pay any cash on the day of service receive a receipt. Did you receive a receipt today for any cash you paid?” Put this policy in writing and IMPLEMENT IT. That will make it far more dangerous to attempt embezzlement.

Make it a written policy that you conduct unannounced checks of petty cash and other cash accounts on a regular (bi-weekly or monthly) basis. Conduct those checks without fail.

Fill out the form on this page to read steps 6-14, they will provide you with the essential data regarding the proper management of your accounts receivable and other office records (highly recommended). Scroll to top

Read steps 6-14, they will provide you with the essential data regarding the proper management of your accounts receivable and other office records (highly recommended).

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YES! I am an owner and would like to receive the Practice Owners Job Description Pack (valued at $129!) or a free one hour consultation on practice management in exchange for a 15 minutes, anonymous phone survey (at the day and time of my choice), to assist an upcoming publication by The Practice Solution Magazine (highly recommended).

I received an email from a doctor having a staff problem. I replied to her and thought this might benefit some other people out there. Please see our discussion below:

Hi Ken,

As an employer, how can you tell your employee to stop his/her: gum smacking, not to laugh at the end of each sentence, to stop blowing her nose as everybody can hear it, to stop asserting herself on someone else’s conversation?

I have such a hard time saying something to my assistant about these issues. Everybody in the office is being affected, and I am not happy at all with her. I try my best to tell her what I would prefer from her as an employee, but it hasn’t worked.

Please help me.

Dr. S

My Reply

Dear Dr. S,

There are several things that can help you in this current situation and help prevent this from happening in the future. This is a bit of a lengthy reply due to the nature of your problem. Please take the time to read through this as I believe it will give you some insight into the problem and how to handle it.

The first, and probably the most important thing is to make sure that you have very detailed job descriptions and office policies in place. In your office policy manual, there needs to be written policies about acceptable and unacceptable employee behavior. When new employees are hired, they are given a copy of this policy manual, and they are to read and sign off on them. This lets them know what is and isn’t permitted in your office. They agree to this, and you now have legal recourse for disciplinary action and/or termination for non-compliance.

As new policies are written, a copy is handed out to all employees for them to read and sign off on. These signed agreements are added to their personnel files. These can then be referenced in regular employee evaluations, disciplinary actions, and if needed, termination situations.

If, however, you only deliver your requests verbally, you leave these requests open to interpretation. It is imperative to have everything in writing so that there is no room for interpretation.

The other underlying issue that I see here is hiring the right people to begin with. There are three steps here:

Attracting the right kind of employees,

Determining who to hire, and

Training them to do their job properly after you’ve hired them.

When you are looking to fill a new position, the wording of your ad/listing is key. Where you are advertising is also a big factor. Utilizing employment agencies that pre-screen applicants to your qualifications can greatly increase the quality of candidates that you see, weeding out the lower quality people ahead of time.Determining who to hire is a shot in the dark for most doctors. They read a resume, conduct an interview and take a shot. No one writes on their resume that they are chronically late, don’t take directions well and can’t get along with others. What you see on a resume is only what the applicant wants you to see. Similarly, all you hear in an interview is what they want you to hear. They say the right things or at the very least what they think that you want to hear in order to get the job.

After they are hired they stay on their best behavior until they get comfortable; then, they become themselves. Only then do you know who you’ve really hired.

You need a more objective way to screen and hire people so that you have a better idea of who they are, what kind of personality they have, their responsibility level, their aptitude and their work ethic. Corporations have been hiring people this way for years. Small businesses suffer through much higher turnover rates due to their lack of successful hiring techniques.

Personality tests, IQ tests, Aptitude tests are all implemented to get a feel for who a person really is and how they will fit into your practice and interact with the staff, more importantly your patients.

Once you have hired the right person, you need to make sure that you train them properly. This is where detailed and up-to-date job descriptions and office policies come into play. It is vital that you equip your new employee with the proper tools to do their job rather than throw them to the wolves and hoping they pick up the proper way to do things as they go.

Here is a policy regarding employee performance evaluations. Take a look at this as I think it will give you an idea of the kinds of policies that should have a place in your office policy manual.

Fill out the form to receive a policy regarding employee performance evaluations(highly recommended).

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To build themost productive and profitable practice, having stable staff who work together to accomplish the mission of the practice is vital. Knowing how and whom to hire is a key skill. To lose employees who may have seemed appropriate for your team when you hired them, yet were not actually a good fit once on the job, is an enormous hidden expense in a practice.

In fact, based on the typical costs of finding, interviewing, testing, training and getting a new employee fully functioning on the job, turnover costs can equal six to nine months of the position salary. If a job pays $3000 per month, your costs could be anywhere from $18,000 to $27,000 each time the position turns over. Therefore, it’s vital to know how to screen applicants properly in order to hire the best possible individuals for your practice and to avoid the stress and high cost of frequent turnover.

Checking References

Checking the references that a job applicant provides is an important—but often neglected—step in the hiring process. The quality of staff can make or break a practice; so, investigate carefully and hire only those whose backgrounds indicate competence and imply that they would be good employees.

Checking references is not always an easy process. In order to protect themselves from legal or privacy issues, many employers have become reluctant to voice opinions about a former employee. However, you should still do reference checks on any candidate whom you consider hiring, to gather any data available.

It’s best to check references prior to a one-on-one interview with the applicant, since you might uncover information that will eliminate that candidate beforehand and save you the interview time. If that’s not possible, check references after the interview, but before hiring.

Here are some questions you might ask references:

How long was _______ employed by you or your company?

Can you tell me his/her ending wage/salary?

Why is he/she no longer employed there?

Was he/she a loyal employee?

Was he/she dependable?

Do you feel he/she is honest?

Would you rehire this person?

Again, a past employer may not be willing to answer some of those questions. The key question is the last one, “Would you rehire this person?” This question is important to ask if the person providing the reference is very guarded or hesitant in giving answers.

Keep in mind that checking references is just one of several vital steps in the hiring process. Another important part is to determine the attributes your ideal applicant would possess.

Read the rest of this article and receive our Hiring Interview Checklist that you can use to determine the characteristics of your ideal employee (highly recommended).

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YES! I am an owner and would like to receive the Practice Owners Job Description Pack (valued at $129!) or a free one hour consultation on practice management in exchange for a 15 minute, anonymous phone survey (at the day and time of my choice) to assist an upcoming publication by The Practice Solution Magazine (highly recommended).

Surveys show that workers are happiest when they are productive and are contributing to the success of the group in which they work. To boost morale, efficiency and longevity of workers, one must:

understand the importance of one’s production,

know exactly what one is supposed to produce and have a clearly defined final product,

be properly trained to get that product, and

be specific. Generalized statements leave too much room for interpretations and argument.

Whether you have a staff of 2 or 30, each position in the practice needs to have a clearly defined final product. Both the manager and the employee need to know exactly what the person on the post is expected to produce. For instance, a receptionist’s product is “communications handled swiftly, accurately and in a friendly manner.” A receptionist who consistently obtains this final product will keep the flow lines and the communication lines of the practice functioning and will be a valuable group member. How many new patients have been lost because a receptionist has failed to answer a phone call swiftly, answer questions correctly and/or set an appointment?

Determining the final product for each position is a starting point. A statistic needs to be developed, so the final product can be monitored accurately. For example, one of an office manager’s final products is “staff members who are fully trained for their positions.” Using a statistic such as “percentage of employees fully trained for their jobs” would show the OM’s performance.

How do you hold employees accountable? The answer is:

name a final product for each position,

figure out a way to quantify that product as a statistic,

monitor the statistic,

evaluate statistical trends, and

apply the correct formula to remedy any downward statistic or improve an upward statistic.

If you are a practice owner and would like free help with a particular employment concern or any other management topic, fill out the form to your right, and we will be more than happy to assist you. Scroll to top

If you are a practice owner and would like free help with a particular employment concern or any other management topic, fill out the form below, and we will be more than happy to assist you.

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Comments or Questions:

https://thepracticesolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Dollarphotoclub_94094697.jpg31914787Wesley Edwardshttps://thepracticesolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2016-new-logo-12.pngWesley Edwards2019-01-30 11:00:502019-01-30 11:00:50How Do You Hold Employees Accountable for Their Positions?

How do you market for new patients in a cost efficient and effective manner? Starting with internal marketing is always the best approach­, as it produces the most cost effective return, which is of utmost importance in managing a practice. Surveys are one method of internal marketing. But how do you go about generating new patients by using surveys?

Here’s the first tip that you can use to more effectively market: do a simple survey with all new patients who come in, in order to find out what brought them to your practice. This can be done as part of their new-patient intake forms, or the receptionist or any other designated staff member can ask the questions verbally.

We have a variety of prepared surveys for our clients to use. Here are examples of some questions you can use to create your own survey:

If you were referred, who referred you and what did that person say to interest you in our office?

If you responded to an ad, which one did you see? What about it attracted you?

If you responded to our website, how did you locate it and what about it interested you?

A second tip is to use surveys on your existing patient base. Start by going through your existing patient records and find about 50 of your “A-list” patients/clients. Do a demographic search of where your best patients/clients are from. Then write a survey for those patients/clients to find out:

what attracted them to your practice,

what keeps them coming back to your practice,

what they like the most about your practice and

which services, if any, they would like to receive from you that you don’t currently offer.

You can then use this information to target the greatest demographic area of your A-list patients/clients and use their survey answers as “hot buttons” in a marketing campaign targeted to generate more patients/clients who are similar to those A-list patients/clients.

This is called targeted marketing. It’s all about generating quality patients and clients, not just getting people to walk through the door. Quality patients keep their appointments, follow your treatment programs, pay their bills, spend more than their insurance allotment, etc. These are the kinds of patients/clients you want to generate for your practice.

If you can determine in which area your best patients/clients reside and what brought them to you in the first place, you can then design a marketing campaign to generate more of those types of patients and clients.

Don’t just guess at what you think will bring new patients/clients in the door. Find out what got your best patients/clients there and use that information to your advantage. “Know before you go” is the motto of all good marketing. You find out the “know” by surveying.

If you are an owner and would like free help on collecting past due accounts or any other management topic, fill out the form to your right, and we will be more than happy to assist you. Scroll to top

If you are an owner and would like free help on collecting past due accounts or any other management topic, fill out the form below, and we will be more than happy to assist you.

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https://thepracticesolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Survey.jpg61917624Wesley Edwardshttps://thepracticesolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2016-new-logo-12.pngWesley Edwards2018-12-13 15:25:052018-12-13 15:34:40Generating New Patients by Using Surveys

Collecting on past due accounts is a function that the Accounts Manager will find herself/himself having to do. Any contact with a patient/client, even under these circumstances, should be kept on a friendly, professional and dignified basis. This will promote respect for the office and its business practices.

Always remember the following points with regard to your patients/clients:

Most people have good intentions and want to cooperate with agreements that they have made.

Although a person’s account may be overdue, most people still have a good intention to take care of it.

Most people prioritize their bills and will first pay those that they feel are most pressing.

Most people with past due accounts will pay those bills where someone is actively requesting them to pay.

Bearing in mind the above, your role is to arrange to be one of the creditors that your patients/clients will not delay paying. The following points may be helpful in this regard:

Bill promptly every month.

Ensure that your bills are accurate.

Ensure that you have the original signed financial agreement from your patient/client.

Contact the patient/client as soon as you realize the account has become delinquent.

When you speak with the patient/client, let them know that you believe that they are able to make payment.

Let the patient/client know that you expect to be paid, and refresh their memory on the signed agreement.

Allow the patient/client their self-respect; never back them into a corner, insult or badger the patient/client.

Explain to the patient/client that you want to help him/her work it out so that they can maintain the agreement that they made with your office.

Be prepared to offer some options to the patient/client that they may not have considered.

Be willing to really communicate with the patient/client so that a true understanding and agreement can be reached.

If absolutely necessary, utilize the credit reporting associations. Let the patient/client know that you are planning to do so and that this will go on their credit rating.

As a last resort, utilize the services of a collection agency, and let the patient/client know that you plan to do so.

If you are an owner and would like free help on collecting past due accounts or any other management topic, fill out the form to your right, and we will be more than happy to assist you. Scroll to top

If you are an owner and would like free help on collecting past due accounts or any other management topic, fill out the form below, and we will be more than happy to assist you.

To craft a successful marketing campaign for your practice, you must first conduct some basic research that will start to identify what your marketing plan and promotional pieces will look like and the message they should deliver. The first step in your research is to work out the general mindset and styles that dominate your particular geographic area. Every state, city, town or area has its own mindset and styles that are unique to that place. If you have lived in the area where you practice, chances are you know them well. Additionally, it is smart to check with others from the area to ensure that your opinion agrees with the general consensus. If you are new to the area, ask locals, as they generally have a good idea.

Some examples are provided below to give you an idea of what one might list as the mindset and styles for his/her area.

Example #1:

Mindset: “Slow and steady pace”, “Friendly”, “Easy going”

Style: Earthy. Lots of greens and whites used in colors.

Old fashioned.

Example #2:

Mindset: “Efficient and Professional”, “Friendly”, “Straight to the point”

Style: Modern and Edgy. Lots of blues used in colors.

High-tech.

Next, identify the top three practices in your area and find out how they market themselves. Doing this will enable you to see which marketing approaches have been successful for your area. Looking at your three competitors’ websites is a good start, as well as looking in the Yellow Pages, local newspapers, Valpak/ADVO, etc., to see how they are marketing. Look for which words they are using to sell their services to people, which offers they are advancing and what their designs look like.

The next step is to identify the successful campaigns or promotional pieces you have created and used thus far. You need to look for any promotional pieces, slogans, brochures, ads, internal marketing campaigns, discounts and word-of-mouth success that resulted in notable increases in delivery. Again, pay attention to the words that were used, the offers that were put forward and the visual impact of the design. It is also good to consider the general demographics of your area. A good website that provides this information for free is: http://www.city-data.com. Gathering this data should enable you to get a good idea of both what worked for you and what works for other similar professionals in your area. It also provides you with a general impression of what people in your area like and will respond to.

This basic homework will provide you with a foundation of information that can be used as you work out new marketing campaigns, whether internal or external.

Fill out the form on this page to read the rest of this article and find out the second step in crafting a successful marketing campaign. (highly recommended). Click to scroll to the top of the page.

Fill out the form read the other half of this article.

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https://thepracticesolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2005/05/Dollarphotoclub_73763361-e1540584178881.jpg32614923Ken DeRouchiehttps://thepracticesolution.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2016-new-logo-12.pngKen DeRouchie2018-10-26 12:55:312018-10-26 12:55:31The First Step to a Successful Marketing Campaign: Research

Just as your staff has responsibilities to you and your practice, you likewise have several responsibilities to your practice and staff.

The complexity of active leadership can be best understood by breaking it down into its essential and integral parts:

1. Communication: It is vital for the owner of a practice to maintain excellent communication with his/her staff and to provide active and visible leadership. The following are key elements involving communication that you, as an executive, should implement:

a. Communication of Goals.Determine the purpose of your practice (most often presented in the form of a mission statement) and communicate that to your staff. Impart the goals of the practice to the staff and keep them informed of the projects that you intend to implement to achieve those goals. The better informed your staff is and the greater understanding they have of such matters, the more likely they will be working in tandem with you.b. Communication Tools.There are some fundamental communication tools to implement in the practice; see to it that your staff uses them. These tools can be established and maintained by your office manager; but, as the senior executive and leader of the practice, you must reinforce them. Examples of those tools are: written requests or proposals, written office communications, written office policies and the use of an effective communication relay system.c. Responding to Communication.
It is vital that you and your staff respond swiftly to written communication. When people do not receive a reply to their memos or emails within an appropriate and reasonable period of time, thereafter they become less willing to communicate. As a result, the business can have more problems on its hands. (Keep that in mind when reading the second part of this article.

2. Staff Meetings: It is also vital that you ensure that the practice holds staff meetings once per week. This is one of the most valuable opportunities available to you for educating staff, setting goals and targets, and handling problem areas that should be addressed by the staff as a whole. The communication lines within the business will strengthen considerably too.

You, as the owner and leader, in addition to your office manager, should continually strive to establish strong coordination and leadership for your staff. Any problems or disagreements between the owner and office manager should always be sorted out OUTSIDE of the staff meeting and should never be addressed in the presence of any staff.

Staff meetings run most effectively if the owner and office manager meet prior to the staff meeting to plan and coordinate those matters to be addressed with the staff.

Fill out the form on this page to read the rest of this article and find out why writing and implementing Policy in your practice, as well as setting Goals and Targets successfully, is so vital to achieving expansion. (highly recommended). Click to scroll to the top of the page.

Fill out the form read the other half of this article.

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One of the most common problems doctors want help with is dealing with canceled or rescheduled appointments. If a doctor’s office has too much of this occurring it can wreak havoc on their daily production. Normally, when this is occurring it is a sign that the receptionist is not properly trained in scheduling appointments, managing the appointment book, or handling cancelations and rescheduling.

When you are getting a high volume of cancelations, you should ask yourself these questions:

Does your receptionist ask the patient/client to put the appointment in their calendar, phone, or day planner so they won’t forget?

Do you keep a record of the reasons behind cancelations for future reference and to implement any needed corrections?

Do you have any sort of policy regarding cancelations that is part of the “welcome to the practice” information given to patients/clients?

If you have such policy, do you enforce it?

Here are some other questions you should ask yourself as regards appointment no-shows:

What actions do you take when someone doesn’t show up for an appointment?

Do you call the patient/client after a certain length of time, e.g., 10-15 minutes?

Do you have any sort of policy regarding no-shows that is part of the “welcome to the practice” information given to patients/clients?

If you have such policy, do you show it to no-show patients/clients the next time they come into the practice?

The doctors we deal with are all asked these simple questions, and many more, when they are dealing with cancelations, no-shows, and reschedules. We recommend that you closely evaluate the management systems and training that you have in place with the staff members involved; then, fix or implement the proper procedures to reduce the number of patients/clients lost. This normally leads to increased production without any increase in marketing or staff expense, which, of course, leads to greater efficiency and net income in a practice.

If you would like more help dealing with canceled or rescheduled appointments or any other management topic, fill out the form to the right, and we will be more than happy to assist you.

If you are a practice owner and would like to receive either:

A Practice Owners Job Description pack (valued at $129)OR

A free one-hour consultation on any practice management topic

In exchange for 15 minutes, anonymous phone survey (at the day and time of your choosing), to assist in our upcoming publication by The Practice Solution Magazine (highly recommended). Fill out the below form.

Do you ever get to the end of the day and realize that you didn’t get half of the things done that you intended to get done?

Do you find yourself giving endless streams of orders and then having to spend time following up to make sure everything was really done?

Do you often have to redo work because it was not done correctly the first time by someone else?
Is scheduling a problem?

Managing time in a healthcare practice is an art. Unique problems arise because, as the doctor, your main priority is treating patients. But, how are you supposed to keep your full attention on patients and at the same time stay on top of the crucial administrative work that is paramount to maintaining a thriving practice? The essence of successful time management is the attainment of a level of organization which facilitates the goal of a healthcare practice, a high quantity of well and happy patients.

Simply stated, how well you organize determines how many hours you work and how productive you are during those hours.

If you are having difficulty managing your time, the first action you should take is to keep a time log during a typical work week. While this may be arduous at first glance, you will find it well worth the time and energy you put into it. Carry a small notebook with you throughout the day and log everything you do along with the amount of time you spent doing each. This is best done by logging the events as they happen and avoid trying to reconstruct the information at a later point in time.

At the end of the week, you will be able to look over the information and tabulate how much time was spent on the various activities you engaged in. This exact record will help you isolate areas of the practice that are not being competently handled by your employees and/or are problematic to the point of requiring much of your attention.

The next action you should take is to have each one of your employees keep their own time log, just as you did yours. At the end of the week, you can gather the logs and review the activity of each staff member.

Because of your help,

A Practice Owners Job Description is waiting for you.

Receive a Practice Owners Job Description Pack (valued at $129) in exchange for a 15 minute, anonymous phone survey (at the day and time of your choice), to assist our upcoming publication. Your contribution is invaluable!

There are no costs or commitments of any kind. All surveys are 100% anonymous and designed for qualified practice owners of dental, veterinary and optometric practice types.